1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to remote control transmitters and more particularly to reconfigurable remote control transmitters which may be programmed to emulate the remote control transmitters for one or more remotely controllable products.
2. Background Discussion
Many consumer products are designed to be operated by an infrared remote control transmitter. Such products include, but are by no means limited to, television receivers, video cassette recorders (VCRs), video disc players, cable converters or boxes, stereo receivers, stereo turntables, other stereo equipment, garage door openers, and a variety of other products used primarily in the home and office. Frequently, two or more of these devices may be used simultaneously such as a television receiver, a cable converter, a video cassette recorder and/or a video disc player. In such cases, it is hard to know which transmitter to pick up to control which product; it is cumbersome to have to deal with three or four remote control transmitters, and it is difficult to keep track of all the transmitters. The necessity of dealing with so many different transmitters significantly reduces the convenience of having a remote control feature.
To overcome this problem, programmable reconfigurable remote control transmitters have been developed which, when in a learning mode, are adapted to receive the infrared coded signals transmitted by two or more remote transmitters and to store compacted representations of these coded signals. Once the transmitter has been programmed, it may be utilized as a universal controller for the products it has been programmed to operate. One such reconfigurable remote control transmitter is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,848 entitled "Programmable Functions for Reconfigurable Remote Control" issued to Raymond G. Ehlers on Dec. 2, 1986.
While transmitters such as that disclosed in the Ehlers patent overcome the problems initially discussed above and permit a single remote control transmitter to be utilized for controlling a number of devices, these devices still have significant limitations. A major limitation is that, when it is necessary to simultaneously operate three or more devices, and particularly when it is necessary to operate such devices in a predetermined sequence, the transmitter is complicated to use and it can take a substantial period of time to accomplish the desired functions. For example, even for the relatively simple, and very commonly utilized, function of turning on a television receiver which is operated from a cable and tuning the system to a desired channel, the following sequence of operations must be performed:
1. The universal controller is set to the cable box.
2. A power key is operated to turn the cable box on.
3. Channel selector buttons are operated to tune the cable box to the desired cable channel.
4. The universal controller is set to the TV receiver.
5. The power key is operated to turn on the TV.
6. Channel select keys are operated to set the TV to the cable input channel (usually channel 3 or channel 4).
Such a sequence of operations may well be beyond the capabilities of a young child, and will in any event tax both the ability and patience of anyone seeking to use the transmitter. If a VCR is also to be turned on, the process becomes even more complicated. It would therefore be desirable if the controller could be programmed to perform certain common functions in response to the depression of a relatively small number of keys, for example two easily identified keys, rather than the six or more keys currently required.
Another desirable function which current programmable remote control transmitters do not perform is to turn on various products and to turn off such products at selected times when the user is not present to do so. For example, if the user wishes to watch a particular program being aired on a cable channel at a time when the user is not home to watch the program, the user would like to be able to cause such program to be taped on his VCR for later viewing. However, existing VCRs do not have the capability of turning on the cable box or of tuning the cable box to a desired channel. While it may be possible to solve this problem by leaving the cable box on and tuned to the desired channel, this would work only if it is desired to tape a single program or only programs from a single cable channel during the user's absence. A need therefore exists for a device which permits a number of different program sequences to be performed on various products at selected times in the absence of the user.
Still another problem with existing controllers is that the signals stored from the remote transmitter for a given product may be stored incorrectly, either because the sending transmitter is too far from or too close to the receiving transmitter, or because the two transmitters are not properly aligned during the learning operation. A need therefore exists to provide the user with a visual, audio, or other indication that the signal being received at the reconfigurable transmitter is of proper strength to permit correct storage.